Responsible investment

Super is a long-term investment, so we believe it's appropriate to think about the long-term prospects of the investments we make on our members' behalf.

As part of our commitment to sustainability, we ensure that Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors play an important part in TelstraSuper’s decision-making process.

We assess our investments against a range of ESG criteria as determined by our board of directors. These criteria are regularly reviewed and set the rules by which we will or won’t invest in an asset, company or industry. These criteria are informed by our formal Sustainable Investment Policy.

For example, in the past we have decided to divest from (or negative screen) companies involved in tobacco manufacturing and controversial weapons, specifically those identified as being involved in manufacturing cluster munitions and landmines. We also actively look to invest in (or positive screen) a number of sustainable energy projects like windfarms.

Getting the right people

We carefully evaluate and assess all of our investment managers’ ESG capabilities, practices and policies prior to their appointment and then review these on an ongoing basis.

As part of our new manager appointment process, whether in-house or external, there are provisions contained within the investment agreement which require each manager to have due regard to ESG factors as part of their investment processes.
In our experience, when investments are made having considered ESG factors, these tend to be better investments, have less risk and often deliver better outcomes for our members.

Direct engagement to influence

We’re a shareholder in thousands of Australian and global companies and take an “active” ownership position – including exercising our voting rights.

Taking an active ownership position means that we can engage with the companies we invest in and vote on decisions at their company meetings.
We can choose to exercise our voting rights on decisions impacting issues such as climate change, gender diversity, human rights and labour supply chain, or executive remuneration. In 2017, we exercised our vote at over 1,500 meetings.
For example, we may choose to exercise a vote against an increase in director/executive remuneration if we feel a company has not behaved in an appropriate way or fallen short of our ESG expectations.
Our proxy voting policy is publicly available and we report annually on our proxy voting activity.

Collaborating to get better outcomes

TelstraSuper has a number of strategic partnerships and regularly works with the wider industry to build our influence.

Originally set up by the United Nations, the PRI develops and implements global principles for the incorporation of ESG issues into investment analysis and decision-making.
As a signatory since 2007, TelstraSuper is committed to seeking greater disclosure and incorporating ESG issues into our future investment decision-making.
You can find out more about the Principles and the implementation process at unpri.org

TelstraSuper is an active member of the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors (ACSI). ACSI members collaborate to achieve genuine, measurable and permanent improvements in the ESG practices and performance of the companies they invest in.
As part of the partnership, we have adopted the ACSI Governance Guidelines when determining our voting instructions; however we may take an alternate position if we believe that it’s in the long-term interest of our members.
We also subscribe to the ACSI Australian Proxy Voting Alert Service. Areas of focus in 2018 include:

We are invested in the Powering Australian Renewables Fund, a landmark partnership with AGL to develop, own and manage approximately 1,000 megawatts (MW) of large-scale renewable energy infrastructure assets.
1 MW of energy is equivalent to 1 million watts. To put this in context, most household appliances use between 3000 and 6500 watts of electricity annually.
This includes investment in projects like the 453 MW Coopers Gap Wind Farm project at Cooranga North, approximately 250 kilometres north west of Brisbane. The Cooranga North project will be the largest wind farm in Australia upon completion.
Other projects include the 102 MW Nyngan and 53 MW Broken Hill solar plants and the 200 MW Silverton Wind Farm in western New South Wales.

TelstraSuper is also invested in a number of ESG influenced global projects, some of which include:

A 1.6 gigawatt (GW) portfolio of wind and solar generation facilities across the U.S. serving as a platform for the continuing acquisition and management of wind and solar projects in North America.

A global developer and operator of utility-scale solar projects globally. with 690 MW of installed capacity across France, Italy, Spain, Puerto Rico, Japan, Chile, the UK and South Africa with ~687 MW of additional projects in construction and development stages in Japan, Puerto Rico and Chile.

The third largest generator of onshore wind energy in the UK and the largest non-utility owner of onshore wind energy in the UK. The current portfolio comprises 34 wind farms in the UK with a total capacity of 689 MW.

Listen to TelstraSuper Investment Compliance Analyst James Spencer explain what ESG is and how TelstraSuper approaches responsible investment.

Hi, my name is James and I’m part of the Investment Operations team here at TelstraSuper.

While TelstraSuper considers many things before we invest your money, today I’m sharing a quick overview as to how we approach responsible investment – what we call ESG considerations.

You might have heard the term ESG before:

E stands for environmental – so the effect a company has on the natural environment

S stands for social – such as how a company manages relationships with its employees and the wider community

And G stands for Governance - such as the company’s leadership team, audits and shareholder rights

We believe thinking about ESG is not only important to be a good corporate citizen, but it’s also important to our investment returns. This is because companies that act in a responsible way tend to succeed financially better than those that don’t.

TelstraSuper considers ESG factors for the life of our investment. We also require external fund managers we use to do the same – and we have a process to regularly check that they do.

TelstraSuper also has a number of other measures in place to assist us in being a responsible investor. This includes:

Deciding not to invest in certain industries that we feel have poor ESG credentials – for example tobacco manufacturing companies, or companies making controversial weapons such as cluster bombs and land mines.
And

Actively investing in industries that we feel do have good ESG credentials. For example we hold significant investments in clean energy such as solar and wind farms.

We’re working hard so that our investment approach remains consistent with our beliefs on responsible investment to help achieve the best financial outcomes for you.